Cylinder-type polishing machine

ABSTRACT

A polishing machine is disclosed to include a machine body and a carrier movably coupled to the machine body. A polishing device is provided with a movable base movably coupled to the machine body and a plurality of polishing cylinders rotatably connected to the movable base and located above the carrier. A rotary drive device is provided with a plurality of transmission gears each coupled to one of the polishing cylinders, and two rotary drive motors symmetrically mounted to the movable base and each having a gear shaft for driving the transmission gears to rotate through at least one transmission belt. Thus, the polishing cylinders are moved along with the movable base and rotated by the actuation of the rotary drive motors for smoothing the workpieces placed on the carrier.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a polishing machine and more particularly, to a cylinder-type polishing machine that can enhance the uniformity of a polished surface of a workpiece.

2. Description of the Related Art

Before electroplating or painting a workpiece, a worker will polish the workpiece to reduce surface roughness and create a smooth and shiny surface for preventing defects on the painted surface of the workpiece.

In the conventional polishing process, the worker holds the workpiece in one hand and moves it to a polishing wheel for smoothing, and further, the worker may properly rotate the workpiece to ensure that the entire surface of the workpiece will be completely polished and smoothed. However, it takes a lot of effort and time to complete the manual polishing operation, and meanwhile it is difficult for the worker to apply a steady rotating force to the workpiece, resulting in reduction of the uniformity and accuracy of the polished surface of the workpiece.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide a polishing machine that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one objective of the present invention to provide a cylinder-type polishing machine, which can raise operational efficiency and enhance machining accuracy.

To achieve this objective of the present invention, the polishing machine comprises a machine body, a carrier, a polishing device, and a rotary drive device. The machine body includes a lower base, an upper base mounted on the lower base, and two parallel first guide rods attached to the lower base. The carrier is coupled to the first guide rods of the machine body so as to be movable relative to the machine body in a longitudinal direction. The polishing device includes a movable base disposed between the upper and lower bases of the machine body, a plurality of polishing cylinders rotatably connected to the movable base and located above the carrier, and two parallel second guide rods attached to the movable base in such a way that the second guide rods extend in a direction vertical to the first guide rods and are movably inserted into the first guide blocks of the upper base of the machine body respectively, such that the movable base is moveable relative to the machine body in a transverse direction. Further, the rotary drive device includes a plurality of transmission gears each coupled to one end of one of the polishing cylinders, and two rotary drive motors symmetrically mounted to the movable base and each having a gear shaft for driving the transmission gears located at a same side of the movable base to rotate through at least one transmission belt.

By this way, the entire surface of a workpiece can be smoothed automatically by the polishing cylinders through the longitudinal movement of the carrier and the transverse movement of the movable base, thereby raising operational efficiency and enhancing the machining accuracy of the workpiece.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a polishing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarge view of a part of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the polishing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarge view of a part of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a lateral view of the polishing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a polishing machine 10 comprises a machine body 20, a carrier 30, a polishing device 40, and a rotary drive device 50.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the machine body 20 includes a lower base 21 placed on the ground and an upper base 22 having a frame 24 fixed to a top side of the lower base 21, and a retaining plate 25 connected to the frame 24 and located above the lower base 21 and provided with two pairs of first guide blocks 26 at a bottom side thereof. Further, the machine body 20 has two parallel first guide rods 23 attached to the top side of the lower base 21.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the carrier 30 is slidably coupled to the first guide rods 23 of the machine body 20 such that the carrier 30 is moveable relative to the machine body 20 along the two first guide rods 23.

In order to drive the carrier 30 to move longitudinally, a longitudinal drive device 60 is provided by the polishing machine 10 of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, the longitudinal drive device 60 includes a longitudinal drive motor 61 mounted to one end of the lower base 21 of the machine body 20, and a gear rack 62 mounted to a bottom side of the carrier 30 and engaged with a gear shaft 612 of the longitudinal drive motor 61. Accordingly, when the longitudinal drive motor 61 is started, the carrier 30 can be driven to move along the two first guide rods 23 through the engagement between the gear shaft 612 and the gear rack 62.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the polishing device 40 includes a movable base 41 located between the plate 25 of the upper base 22 of the machine body 20 and the lower base 21, and a plurality of polishing cylinders 42 rotatably connected to a bottom side of the movable base 41 and located above the carrier 30. Further, two parallel second guide rods 43 are provided in a manner that they extend along a direction vertical to the two first guide rods 23 and are attached to a top side of the movable base 41 and respectively inserted into the two first guide blocks 26 of the upper base 22 of the machine body 20, such that the movable base 41 is movable relative to the machine body 20 through the two second guide rods 43.

In order to drive the movable base 41 to move transversely, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a transverse drive device 70 is provided by the polishing machine 10 of the present invention. The transverse drive device 70 includes a transverse drive motor 71 mounted on a top side of the retaining plate 25 of the upper base 22 of the machine body 20, and a linking member 72 connected between the movable base 41 and a drive shaft 712 of the transverse drive motor 71. Further, the linking member 72 includes a rotary plate 73 having a center connected to the drive shaft 712 of the transverse drive motor 71, two universal joints 74 respectively mounted to one end of the rotary plate 73 and an upstand 412 of the movable base 41, and a screw rod 75 screwingly connected between the two universal joints 74. By this way, when the transverse drive motor 71 is started, the movable base 41 can be pulled or pushed by the linking member 72 to move relative to the machine body 20 transversely.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the rotary drive device 50 includes a plurality of transmission gears 51. The two adjacent transmission gears 51 have opposite installation positions. That is, one half of the transmission gears 51 are coupled to the left end of one half of the polishing cylinders 42, and the other half of transmission gears 51 are coupled to the right end of the other half of the polishing cylinders 42. Further, the rotary drive device 50 has a plurality of idle gears 52 rotatably disposed at two opposite sides of the movable base 41 in pairs and each connected to one or two of the transmission gears 51 through a transmission belt 54. Two rotary drive motors 53 are symmetrically mounted to the top side of the movable base 41 and each have a gear shaft 532 indirectly connected with the idle gears 52 located at the same side of the movable base 41 through a transmission belt 55. By this way, when the rotary drive motors 53 are started, the idle gears 52 are driven to rotate through the transmission belt 55, and then the transmission gears 51 are driven to rotate by the idle gears 52 through the transmission belt 54. Therefore, the polishing cylinders 42 are rotated along with the transmission gears 51.

After placing workpieces on the carrier 30, a worker starts the longitudinal drive motor 61 to drive the carrier 30 to move along the two first guide rods 23 to the bottom of the polishing cylinders 42, and then starts the rotary drive motor 53 to drive the rotation of the polishing cylinders 42 for smoothing the surfaces of the workpieces in a longitudinal direction. Thereafter, the worker can start the transverse drive motor 71 according to actual needs to drive the movable base 41 to move transversely relative to the carrier 30 for enabling the polishing cylinders 42 to smooth the surfaces of the workpieces in a transverse direction. After the polishing process is complete, the worker reverses the longitudinal drive motor 61 to drive the carrier 30 to leave the bottom of the polishing cylinders 42, and thus the worker can take the workpieces out of the carrier 30.

To deserve to be mentioned, the polishing machine 10 can be provided with two carriers 30 and two longitudinal drive devices 60. When one batch of the workpieces are polished, the second carrier 30 can be driven by the second longitudinal drive device 60 to carry the next batch of the workpieces to the polishing cylinders 42 for polishing. Besides, the number and arrangement of the transmission gears 51, the idle gears 52, and the transmission belts 54 and 55 can be changeable as long as the gear shaft 532 of each of the rotary drive motors 53 and the transmission gears 51 can be rotated synchronously through at least one transmission belt 54 or 55.

In conclusion, the polishing machine 10 of the present invention is operated automatically to enable the worker to save time and labor, thereby raising operational efficiency. In the meanwhile, the entire surface of the workpiece can be smoothed by the polishing cylinders 42 through the longitudinal movement of the carrier 30 and the transverse movement of the movable base 41, such that the machining accuracy of the workpiece can be enhanced.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A polishing machine comprising: a machine body having a lower base, an upper base mounted on the lower base and provided with two opposite first guide blocks, and two parallel first guide rods attached to the lower base; a carrier movably coupled to the first guide rods of the machine body; a polishing device having a movable base disposed between the upper and lower bases of the machine body, a plurality of polishing cylinders rotatably connected to the movable base and located above the carrier, and two parallel second guide rods attached to a top side of the movable base in such a way that the second guide rods extend in a direction vertical to the first guide rods and are movably inserted into the first guide blocks of the upper base of the machine body respectively; and a rotary drive device including a plurality of transmission gears each coupled to one end of one of the polishing cylinders, and two rotary drive motors symmetrically mounted to the movable base and each having a gear shaft for driving the transmission gears located at a same side of the movable base to rotate through at least one transmission belt.
 2. The polishing machine as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a longitudinal drive device including a longitudinal drive motor mounted to one end of the lower base of the machine body, and a gear rack mounted to a bottom side of the carrier and engaged with a gear shaft of the longitudinal drive motor.
 3. The polishing machine as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a transverse drive device including a transverse drive motor mounted on a top side of the upper base of the machine body, and a linking member connected between the movable base and a drive shaft of the transverse drive motor.
 4. The polishing machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein the linking member includes a rotary plate having a center connected to the drive shaft of the transverse drive motor, two universal joints respectively mounted to one end of the rotary plate and one side of the movable base, and a screw rod screwingly connected between the two universal joints.
 5. The polishing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotary drive device further includes a plurality of idle gears rotatably disposed at two opposite sides of the movable base in pairs; one of the idle gears and at least one of the transmission gears are coupled through one said transmission belt, and the gear shaft of one of the rotary drive motors and the idle gears located at the same side of the movable base are coupled through one said transmission belt. 